Animal
Snow goose
Anser caerulescens
Also known as: Greater snow goose, Lesser snow goose
A medium-large goose (25–33 inches) that breeds in the Arctic and winters along the East Coast and the Gulf. The Atlantic-population greater snow goose winters in massive numbers on Delaware Bay's western shore — Bombay Hook and Prime Hook NWRs together hold tens of thousands at peak winter. The white-with-black-wingtips adults and gray immatures form spectacular flocks; the noise of a few thousand snow geese rising at once is one of the Atlantic Flyway's signature sensory experiences. Two color morphs exist (white and 'blue'); the Atlantic greater population is almost entirely white morph.
Scientific
The snow goose (Anser caerulescens) is a medium-large North American goose with two recognized subspecies — the lesser snow goose (A. c. caerulescens) of central and western North America and the greater snow goose (A. c. atlanticus) of the Atlantic coast. Two color morphs (white and “blue”) occur in lesser populations; greater populations are almost entirely white.
Breeding range: high Arctic Canada and Greenland, in dense colonies. Winter range: coastal marshes, estuaries, and agricultural fields along the East Coast (greater) and from the [[batesville-ms|Mississippi]] Valley to the Gulf and Pacific coasts (lesser).
Diet: in winter, primarily waste grain in agricultural fields and roots/rhizomes of marsh plants. The species’ habit of feeding on marsh-plant roots can produce “eat-outs” — denuded marsh patches — when populations are dense.
Delaware Bay wintering
The greater snow goose Atlantic population winters across the mid-Atlantic, with [[delaware-bay|Delaware Bay]] one of the principal concentration sites. [[bombay-hook-nwr|Bombay Hook NWR]]‘s freshwater impoundments and surrounding Kent County agricultural fields hold tens of thousands of birds through the December–March winter.
Behaviorally: dense flocks roost on water at night and fly out to feeding fields at dawn; the daily mass departure and return are visible from miles away. Counts at [[bombay-hook-nwr|Bombay Hook]] regularly exceed 50,000 birds at peak winter.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Member of: [[animal]]
- Contained by: [[delaware-bay]] · [[atlantic-flyway]] · [[harrington-delaware]]
Sources
- [[us-fish-and-wildlife-service|U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]] Atlantic-population snow goose surveys
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology species accounts
Rooted in life.
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